Become a Fan

December 16, 2013

Just a reminder: I'll be leading this Winter Solstice Ritual Workshop on Friday evening at Observatory. Please RSVP to me directly via email if you'd like to attend: phantasmaphile at gmail.com. Full details here:

Winter Solstice Ritual Workshop with Pam Grossman

***You must RSVP to phantasmaphile [at] gmail.com if you’d like to attend, as space is limited

December is full of holy days that honor the cycle of birth, death, & resurrection. They all culminate in Winter Solstice, the longest night of the year, and the beginning of the sun’s return. This evening, we will focus on welcoming light back into our lives. We’ll do spellcraft for peace and cleansing for the new year. There will be a special focus on tree magick, and herbs that invite warmth into our bodies on cold, dark days. And we’ll give gifts, of course!

Please bring:

-Any altar objects you like. These can be decorative (Yule or winter decorations of any kind are welcome), and/or personal objects which you’d like to have charged

-A candle and holder

-A wrapped gift that will be given to someone in circle (no more than $5-10 in value, or free/homemade is fine, too!)

-A cushion, pillow, or fabric, as we will be sitting on the floor (chairs will be available for those who need).

Note-taking is welcome. This workshop is open to men and women, novices and advanced practitioners alike.

Pam Grossman is a writer, independent curator, and teacher of magical practice and history. An initiate in the wise woman tradition, she is a graduate apprentice of the green witch, Robin Rose Bennett. She is the creator of Phantasmaphile, a blog which specializes in art and culture with an esoteric or fantastical bent, and Associate Editor of Abraxas Journal. She lectures on such topics as “The Occult in Modern Art 101,” teaches classes on herbalism and ritual, and is the co-organizer of the Occult Humanities Conference at NYU.

Her writing has appeared in numerous mediums, including The Huffington Post, MSN.com, the Etsy blog, Sciences Occultes magazine, and various Fulgur press publications. As a featured guest on The Midnight Archive web series, Expanding Mind radio, and the C-Realm, Psychonautica, and Labyrinth podcasts, she has discussed the role of magic in contemporary life. Her group art shows and projects have been featured by such outlets as Artforum, Newsweek, New York Magazine, Art & Antiques Magazine, Boing Boing, CREATIVE TIME, Time Out New York, Reality Sandwich, Juxtapoz, Arthur, 20×200, UrbanOutfitters.com, and Neil Gaiman’s Twitter. She is a co-founder of Observatory, where her programming aims to explore mysticism via a scholarly yet accessible approach.

December 04, 2013

I've got some exciting upcoming events scheduled at Observatory, and would love to see you at some or all. First I'd like to mention Shannon Taggart's presentation there this Friday (which I neither organized nor can attend myself, sadly). It's an updated reprise of the talk she gave at the Occult Humanities Conference, and it was one of the highlights of the entire weekend. Do go, especially if you weren't able to make it to the conference. I will be there in spirit!

Physical Mediumship, Spiritualist Ritual and the Search for Ectoplasm – An Illustrated Presentation with Shannon Taggart

** This talk originally premiered at the 2013 Congress of Curious Peoples, London and was revised for the Occult Humanities Conference at NYU

After learning the true details of her grandfather’s death through a medium, Shannon Taggart began photographing Spiritualism. Through images made from 2001-2013, this talk will examine the elusive substance of ectoplasm and its various expressions within Spiritualist ritual. The “New Age of Physical Mediumship” will be the main point of focus, comparing and contrasting the séance cabinet work and ectoplasmic manifestations of physical mediums Sharon Harvey, Gordon Garforth and Kai Muegge. A comparison between Shannon Taggart’s Spiritualism and Vodou projects will also be explored.

Shannon Taggart is a photographer and independent researcher based in Brooklyn, NY. Her work has been featured and exhibited internationally including the publications TIME, Newsweek and Reader’s Digest. She is an Observatory member whose programming focuses on the science, aesthetics and material culture of the miraculous. Currently, she is working on a book about Spiritualism and physical mediumship.

Winter Solstice Ritual Workshop with Pam Grossman

***You must RSVP to phantasmaphile [at] gmail.com if you’d like to attend, as space is limited

December is full of holy days that honor the cycle of birth, death, & resurrection. They all culminate in Winter Solstice, the longest night of the year, and the beginning of the sun’s return. This evening, we will focus on welcoming light back into our lives. We’ll do spellcraft for peace and cleansing for the new year. There will be a special focus on tree magick, and herbs that invite warmth into our bodies on cold, dark days. And we’ll give gifts, of course!

Please bring:

-Any altar objects you like. These can be decorative (Yule or winter decorations of any kind are welcome), and/or personal objects which you’d like to have charged

-A candle and holder

-A wrapped gift that will be given to someone in circle (no more than $5-10 in value, or free/homemade is fine, too!)

-A cushion, pillow, or fabric, as we will be sitting on the floor (chairs will be available for those who need).

Note-taking is welcome. This workshop is open to men and women, novices and advanced practitioners alike.

Pam Grossman is a writer, independent curator, and teacher of magical practice and history. An initiate in the wise woman tradition, she is a graduate apprentice of the green witch, Robin Rose Bennett. She is the creator of Phantasmaphile, a blog which specializes in art and culture with an esoteric or fantastical bent, and Associate Editor of Abraxas Journal. She lectures on such topics as “The Occult in Modern Art 101,” teaches classes on herbalism and ritual, and is the co-organizer of the Occult Humanities Conference at NYU.

Her writing has appeared in numerous mediums, including The Huffington Post, MSN.com, the Etsy blog, Sciences Occultes magazine, and various Fulgur press publications. As a featured guest on The Midnight Archive web series, Expanding Mind radio, and the C-Realm, Psychonautica, and Labyrinth podcasts, she has discussed the role of magic in contemporary life. Her group art shows and projects have been featured by such outlets as Artforum, Newsweek, New York Magazine, Art & Antiques Magazine, Boing Boing, CREATIVE TIME, Time Out New York, Reality Sandwich, Juxtapoz, Arthur, 20×200, UrbanOutfitters.com, and Neil Gaiman’s Twitter. She is a co-founder of Observatory, where her programming aims to explore mysticism via a scholarly yet accessible approach.

The Secret History of Positive Thinking

Can the magic of our minds change our lives? From the essays of Emerson to the mega-sensation of The Secret, Americans have long wondered about the hidden potentials of the mind – particularly whether “the power of positive thinking” can bring us wealth, health, and happiness.

Most serious people view positive thinking as an immature or unrealistic response to life. But award-winning author and lecturer Mitch Horowitz asks us to look again. In this lively and intellectually substantive presentation, Mitch explores themes from his new book, One Simple Idea: How Positive Thinking Reshaped Modern Life(“brilliant” – Deepak Chopra), to seriously consider the remarkable history, astonishing impact, and compelling possibilities of positive thinking.

Rather than being a soft-headed philosophy based in bromides and page-a-day calendars, positive thinking, which began with occult experiments of the mid-nineteenth century, has proven remarkably foresightful of contemporary advances in neuroscience, addiction and OCD treatment, stress and recovery programs, and in today’s most intensely debated findings within quantum physics.

Surveying the history and growth of positive thinking, and the myriad forms it has taken, Mitch squarely considers the all-important question: Does it work? As he shows, a thoughtful consideration of the background, methods, and results of positive thinking make a blanket dismissal virtually impossible. He also looks critically at the internal contradictions and ethical dilemmas of positive-thinking philosophy – and considers how these shortcomings can be fixed or reformed to remake positive thinking into a persuasive and mature approach to life.

This journey through the positive-thinking revolution also highlights:

• How the now-familiar injunction to “think positive” bubbled up from mystical and supernatural subcultures of the mid-nineteenth century before becoming the closest thing America has to a national creed.

• The remarkable personas that shaped positive-thinking, such as philosopher William James, the Rev. Norman Vincent Peale, and French therapist Emile Coué (who coined the world-famous but misunderstood mantra: Day by day, in every way, I am getting better and better.)

Painted Alchemists: Thomas Wijck at the Intersection of Art, Science, and Practice

Dutch images of alchemists in the laboratory have long been overlooked by art historians as moralizing satires catering to a disbelieving audience. This project examines afresh the alchemical pictures of Thomas Wijck (1616–1677), seeking to understand how artistry and alchemy met and merged in the early modern studio and laboratory. In addition to iconographical and historical concerns, emphasis is placed on Wijck’s paintings as transformative objects produced in a studio-workshop: raw materials, pigments, and chemical processes will shed light on the practices of painters and their role in a greater “Golden Age” of discovery.

Elisabeth Berry Drago is a Ph.D candidate in art history, specializing in 17th-century Netherlands. Her dissertation centers on the painter Thomas Wijck (1616–1677), whose pictures of alchemists in the laboratory offer new perspectives on early modern science and artistry. Elisabeth received her M.A. in art history from Temple University in 2010 and holds a B.A. in fine arts from SUNY Fredonia. In her free time she enjoys volunteering with the Fleisher Art Memorial, a community arts organization, and the Free Library of Philadelphia, teaching youth workshops in painting and drawing, comics, and picture-book illustration.

As the author of the first systematic aesthetics of Noise and the alleged creator of the first mechanical sound synthesizer, Luigi Russolo (1885-1947), Italian Futurist painter, composer, and builder of musical instruments is a crucial figure in the evolution of 20th century music and has influenced artists such as John Cage and David Byrne. In this evening’s lecture, Luciano Chessa will unveil the occult plan of Luigi Russolo’s seminal Art of Noises (L’arte dei Rumori, 1913) which became one of the most important and influential texts in 20th century musical aesthetics. Russolo’s ideas and their practical manifestation — the intonarumori — were for him and his associates elements of a multi-leveled experiment to reach higher states of spiritual consciousness. Russolo’s theories reflected his interest in synesthesia, metaphysics, and alchemy and he readily identified Thought-Forms (1901), an influential Theosophical text by Annie Besant and C.W. Leadbeater, as a guiding source for his innovations. We will explore Russolo’s belief that an artist-initiate can invoke spirits fluctuating in the astral plane, communicate with the dead, and harness their energy for the spiritualizing process.

Luciano Chessa is a composer, conductor, pianist, and musical saw/Vietnamese dan bau soloist who has been active in Europe, the U.S., Australia, and South America. Chessa is the author of Luigi Russolo, Futurist: Noise, Visual Arts, and the Occult, the first monograph ever to be dedicated to the Futurist Russolo and his Art of Noise (University of California Press). In 2014, Chessa will be participating in the Guggenheim’s retrospective exhibit on Italian Futurism. Chessa holds a D.M.A. in Piano performance and a M.A. in Composition from the G.B. Martini Conservatory of Music in Bologna, Italy, a M.A. magna cum laude in History of Medieval Music from the University of Bologna, and a Ph.D. in Musicology and Music Criticism from the University of California at Davis. Chessa taught, lectured, and talked at various institutions including St. John’s College of Oxford, UK, Columbia University, Harvard University, Sydney’s and Melbourne’s Conservatories and Universities, the Conservatory of Music in Bologna, UC Davis, UC Berkeley, Stanford University, and EMPAC in the campus of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Luciano Chessa teaches at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, serves in the Advisory Board of TACET, the international research publication dedicated to Experimental Music from the Université Paris 1 – Panthéon-Sorbonne, is a member of the Steering Committee of the SF Electronic Music Festival, and collaborates with SF’s Italian Cultural Institute. His music is published by Edizioni Carrara and by RAI TRADE, the Italian National Broadcast Channels’ music publishing company.

October 09, 2013

It's true. The Occult Humanities Conference next week is officially sold out. We don't have any additional tickets held back, so I'm afraid if you didn't buy one, there's very little chance of trying your luck at the door. But there are a few other opportunities for you to enjoy a bit of this esoteric weekend:

We're having a free and open-to-the-public closing night reception on Sunday, October 20th from 6-8pm. Come hobnob with speakers and attendees, and see the conference's accompanying exhibition, Verbal-Somatic-Material. We'd love to see you there! You can also just pop in and see the work during conference hours as well:

Concurrent with the weekend of the Occult Humanities Conference will be the exhibition Verbal, Somatic and Material. Assembled by Jesse Bransford, the exhibition collects works by many of the speakers in the form of artworks and texts.

Magic relies on at least one of three components, the verbal, the
somatic (i.e. body gestures) and a material component. The exhibition
collects works of art in text and material that connect and join the
rich metaphors of art and magic.

The exhibition will be on view for the duration of the Occult Humanities conference.
A closing reception for the exhibition will be held on Sunday October
20th from 6-8pm.

Additionally, though not formally associated with the conference, conference co-organizer, Jesse Bransford, will have work in the project room at Feature Inc gallery from from October 17th through November 16th, and several of us will be at the opening night reception for that as well on Thursday, October 17th from 6-8pm.

We've had several inquiries regarding if we'll be recording the conference. We are absolutely working on it, and will keep you posted if and when the recordings become available online.

***You must RSVP to phantasmaphile [at] gmail.com if you’d like to attend, as space is limited

Persephone’s descent into Hades, and Demeter’s subsequent mourning,
were celebrated in late September in ancient Greece via a 9-day long
series of elaborate rites called the Eleusinian Mysteries. Though
relatively little is known about these rituals to this day, they
mirrored the changing of the seasons, and allowed initiates to reflect
deeply upon the cycle of birth, death, and resurrection.

So shall we celebrate this time when the world turns dark and our
thoughts turn inward. This evening will be filled with myth, ritual,
and meditation to prepare us for the colder months. We will journey to
the underworld, and return with messages to help guide us in the coming
seasons. Themes will include harvesting, giving thanks, honoring
shadow, and letting go.

Please bring:

-Any altar objects you like. These can be
decorative (Thanksgiving and autumnal decor of any kind is welcome),
and/or personal objects which you’d like to have charged

-A candle and holder

-A cushion, pillow, or fabric, as we will be sitting on the floor (chairs will be available for those who need).

Note-taking is welcome. This workshop is open to men and women, novices and advanced practitioners alike.

***You must RSVP to phantasmaphile [at] gmail.com if you’d like to attend, as space is limited

Persephone’s descent into Hades, and Demeter’s subsequent mourning,
were celebrated in late September in ancient Greece via a 9-day long
series of elaborate rites called the Eleusinian Mysteries. Though
relatively little is known about these rituals to this day, they
mirrored the changing of the seasons, and allowed initiates to reflect
deeply upon the cycle of birth, death, and resurrection.

So shall we celebrate this time when the world turns dark and our
thoughts turn inward. This evening will be filled with myth, ritual,
and meditation to prepare us for the colder months. We will journey to
the underworld, and return with messages to help guide us in the coming
seasons. Themes will include harvesting, giving thanks, honoring
shadow, and letting go.

Please bring:

-Any altar objects you like. These can be
decorative (Thanksgiving and autumnal decor of any kind is welcome),
and/or personal objects which you’d like to have charged

-A candle and holder

-A cushion, pillow, or fabric, as we will be sitting on the floor (chairs will be available for those who need).

Note-taking is welcome. This workshop is open to men and women, novices and advanced practitioners alike.

The Occult Humanities Conference is a weekend conference to be held in
New York City on October 18-20th, 2013. The conference will present a
wide array of voices active in the cultural landscape who are
specifically addressing the occult tradition through research,
scholarship and artistic practice.

The arts and humanities at present are acutely interested in subjects
related to the occult tradition. The tradition represents a rich and
varied visual culture that displays a complex set of relations at once
culturally specific and global in their transmission. Roughly defined,
the occult tradition represents a series of culturally syncretic belief
systems with related and overlapping visual histories. Though there are
as many ways into this material as there are cultural - and personal -
perspectives, universal occult concerns often include a belief in some
sort of magic; a longing to connect with an immaterial or trans-personal
realm; and a striving for inner-knowledge, refinement of the self, and
transformation of one's consciousness - if not one's physical
circumstances.

Intensely marginalized throughout most historical periods, these
traditions persist and represent an 'underground' perspective that
periodically exerts a strong influence on structures of dissent,
utopianism and social change. Though history is marked with several
so-called "Occult Revivals," the contemporary digital age is a perfect
confluence of several factors which make this moment prime for a
reexamination of all of the esoteric traditions. While the information
age has allowed for easier access to previously obscure writings,
imagery, and social contexts, it alternately elicits a deep desire for
sensorial experiences and meaning-making once one steps away from the
screen.

The presenters at the OHC represent a rich and expanding community of
international artists and academics from multiple disciplines across the
humanities who share an exuberance and excitement for how the occult
traditions interface with their fields of study as well as the culture
at large. The small scale of this conference (approximately 100
attendees) will give ticket holders an intimate look at the presenters
and their views.

The visually-oriented presentations will be coupled with an exhibition
of artworks by several presenters and artisanal books from Fulgur
Esoterica and Ouroboros Press.

SCHEDULE:

FRIDAY October 18

8:00-8:30pm

Welcome from conference organizers Pam Grossman & Jesse Bransford

Jesse Bransford; Pam Grossman

8:30-10:00pm

Wine and Cheese Reception with live music from The Parlour Trick

The Parlour Trick

SATURDAY October 19

9:00-9:30am

Welcome, Announcements & Opening Remarks

Jesse Bransford; Pam Grossman

9:30-10:30am

Like A Messenger to the Deep: Deciphering the Occult in Leonora Carrington

Susan Aberth

10:30-11:00am

BREAK

11:00am-12:00pm

Witch-Hunters in the Book-Shops: the History of the Cornell Witchcraft Collection (1866-2013)

Artist Talk: Physical Mediumship and the Search for Ectoplasm in Modern Spiritualist Ritual

Shannon Taggart

5:30-6:00pm

BREAK

6:00-7:00pm

Art as a Spell: Resacralizing Urban Space

Pam Grossman

7:00-9:00pm

DINNER BREAK

9:00pm

EVENING ENTERTAINMENT: An Occult Magic Show

Acep Hale

SUNDAY October 20

10:00-11:00am

Adventures in Limbo: The Neither-Neither World of Austin Osman Spare

Robert Ansell

11:00-11:30

BREAK

11:30-12:30

Artist Talk: Topple the Table of Correspondences

Elijah Burgher

12:30-2:00pm

LUNCH BREAK

2:00-3:00pm

Symbolic Devices: On the Hieronymous Machine and Other Magical Technologies

Mark O. Pilkington

3:00-3:30pm

BREAK

3:30-4:30pm

"More Brilliant than Crystal": The Life and Work of Ithell Colquhoun

Amy Hale

4:30-5:00pm

BREAK

5:00-6:00pm

Artist Talk: The Planets, A Ten Year Working

Jesse Bransford

6:00-8:00pm

CLOSING RECEPTION AND ART VIEWING

Open to the Public

LECTURE DESCRIPTIONS (alphabetically by participant name):

Like A Messenger to the Deep: Deciphering the Occult in Leonora Carrington

The British-born Mexican Surrealist Leonora Carrington created a large
body of work including paintings, drawings, sculpture, tapestries,
jewelry, theatrical scenery and costumes, as well as a significant
amount of fiction (short stories, plays, novellas). Much of the content
of her work has been deemed undecipherable and has thus been relegated
to the realm of nursery rhyme, surrealist fantasy and mythology. This
presentation will use a previously unpublished drawing of Carrington's
as a jump off point with which to explore the artist's occult interests,
which were wide-ranging and actually clearly articulated in her work.
The esoteric artwork of other Surrealists, many of whom were her
friends, will be used as points of comparison.

Susan L. Aberth is Associate Professor of Art History at Bard
College, Annandaleon-Hudson, New York. She teaches modern Latin American
art, with a particular interest in Surrealism and religious traditions.
She also teaches Latin American art at the Christie's Education Master
of Arts Program, New York. Author of Leonora Carrington: Surrealism, Alchemy, and Art (Lund Humphries, London and in Spanish with Turner, Madrid, 2004); Agustín Fernández: The Metamorphosis of Experience
(with Donald Kuspit, Rocio Aranda-Alvarado and Abby McEwen)
(5Continents, Milan, 2012); and numerous other articles and catalogue
essays. In addition to the art of Latin America, her teaching and
research interests are in outsider art, fraternal orders, the occult,
religion and popular culture.

***

Saturday Night Performance: Occult Magic With Magician Acep Hale

Until modern times there was no division between the branches of magic.
Acep Hale will be presenting a collection of classic street performing
tricks that have been passed down through centuries in a continuous link
from the times when magicians wandered the earth, entertaining,
healing, and divining for the communities they traveled through.

Acep Hale is a street performing magician, musician, traveler,
and rogue gentleman scholar. Driven by the 19th century belief in
propaganda by deed he performs daily on street corners everywhere to
prove that magic still lives around every bend, you don't need a nine to
five to stay alive, and hope springs eternal between the cracks of
every sidewalk.

***

Adventures in Limbo: The Neither-Neither World of Austin Osman Spare

Austin Osman Spare was an English occult artist working in the
early-to-mid 20th Century.
In this 45min audio-visual journey, we are invited to explore Austin
Spare's approach to creating magical art through an analysis of his own
words and images. His liminal methods are then compared with composers
working during his lifetime. The lecture includes a soundtrack by John
Contreras (of Current 93 and Baby Dee) that was composed uniquely for
this presentation.

Robert Ansell is a publisher, art dealer, curator and scholar.
His field of expertise is esoteric art of the 20th century with a
specific focus on Austin Osman Spare. Through his company FULGUR
ESOTERICA he has represented esoteric artists in book form since 1992.
In recent years he has also gained note as an independent art curator
specializing in the esoteric. Robert is also the publisher and art
editor of Abraxas Journal, which has been described as etoday's
pre-eminent voice for the serious study of occult and esoteric
expression.' His published work includes; AOS Ex-Libris (1988), The Book of Ugly Ecstasy (1996), Borough Satyr (2005), The Valley of Fear (2008), The Exhibition Catalogues of Austin O. Spare (2011) and The Focus of Life (2012). He has been interviewed for the BBC Culture Show, the blog Boing Boing, and Dazed and Confused.

***

Jesse Bransford: The Planets, A Ten Year Working

In the summer of 2013 Jesse Bransford completed a long-term project
involving a study of the seven planets of antiquity. Begun in late 2004,
The seven celestial bodies, the Sun, Mars, Mercury, the Moon, Venus,
Jupiter and Saturn were each taken in turn and studied for approximately
a year. The research generated seven discreet bodies of work that trace
the self-initiation of the artist into a much larger (and stranger)
world.

Jesse Bransford (Conference Co-organizer) is a Brooklyn-based
artist whose work is exhibited internationally at venues including The
Carnegie Museum of Art, the UCLA Hammer Museum, PS 1 Contemporary Art
Center and the CCA Wattis Museum among others. He holds degrees from the
New School for Social Research (BA), Parsons School of Design (BFA) and
Columbia University (MFA). An associate professor of art at New York
University, Bransford's work has been involved with belief and the
visual systems it creates since the 1990s. Early research into color
meaning and cultural syncretism led to the occult traditions in general
and the work of John Dee and Henry Cornelius Agrippa specifically. His
work is represented by Feature Inc. in New York and can be seen
extensively documented on the website sevenseven.com, a site he has
operated and maintained since 1997.

***

Elijah Burgher: Topple the Table of Correspondences

Elijah Burgher will give an artist's talk about his drawings and
paintings. He will also discuss the influence of artist-sorcerors, such
as Austin Osman Spare, William S. Burroughs, Genesis P-Orridge and John
Balance, on his work.

Elijah Burgher (b. 1978, U.S.A.) is an artist and occasional
writer, currently living in Chicago, IL. He makes drawings and paintings
that utilize ideas from magick and the occult to address sexuality,
sub-cultural formation and the history of abstraction. He has exhibited
in solo shows at Western Exhibitions, Chicago (2012, 2013); 2nd Floor
Projects, San Francisco (2011); and Shane Campbell Gallery, Oak Park
(2010); and two-person shows at Lump, Raleigh (2012); and Peregrine
Program, Chicago (2009). Recent group shows include exhibitions at the
Witte de With, Rotterdam (2013); H.F. Johnson Gallery of Art, Kenosha
(2012); 92YTribeca (2012), Anna Kustera (2011), and Envoy Enterprises
(2010), New York City; Famous Accountants, Brooklyn (2011); and Noma,
San Francisco (2011). Burgher has taught in Contemporary Practices and
Painting and Drawing since Fall 2010. Recent publications include Vitamin D2 (Phaidon, 2013) and AA Bronson & Peter Hobbs: Queer Spirits (Creative Time, 2011).

***

Witch-Hunters in the Book-Shops: the History of the Cornell Witchcraft Collection (1866-2013)

That Cornell University Library has "the largest and most accessible
collection on witchcraft in the world" is widely acknowledged in the
academic community, but the whole story of why and how it was built (in
the context of both scholarship and political activism) still needs to
be told in details. Driven by their liberal/rationalist agenda and by
their populist/sentimentalist interpretation of European witch-hunt, two
historians, Cornell's first President Andrew Dickson White (1866-1885)
and librarian George Lincoln Burr (who retired in 1922), purchased the
largest ensemble of witchcraft trial records and demonology treaties in
one repository. Decades later, Cornell acquired the library on occultism
of Kurt Seligmann, "the magic expert of the Surrealist group." In this
talk, Laurent Ferri will discuss the formation, use, and occasional
misuse, of the amazing and still expanding Cornell Witchcraft
Collection.

Laurent Ferri is the curator of the pre-1800 collections of rare
books and manuscripts in Kroch Library, Cornell -- where he also holds
the position of Adjunct Professor of Comparative Literature and Medieval
Studies. Prior to coming to New York State, he worked at the Archives
nationales in Paris, and also taught at the école nationale
d'administration in Rabat, Morocco.

***

Art as a Spell: Resacralizing Urban Space

The word "pagan" means "of the country," yet so many city-dwellers have
magical inclinations and pantheistic leanings. How do we reconcile our
metaphysical hunger with our decidedly industrial surroundings? In this
meditation on the occult and urban living, with a special focus on New
York City, Pam Grossman will explore the idea of art as a conduit
between civilization and the divine.

Pam Grossman (Conference Co-organizer) is an independent curator,
writer, and teacher of magical practice and history. She is the
creator of Phantasmaphile, a blog which specializes in art and culture
with an esoteric or fantastical bent, and the Associate Editor of
Abraxas International Journal of Esoteric Studies. As co-founder of the
Brooklyn arts & lecture space, Observatory, her programming aims to
explore mysticism via a scholarly yet accessible approach.

Her group art shows, Fata Morgana: The New Female Fantasists, VISION
QUEST, Alchemically Yours, and Sigils & Signs have been featured by
such outlets as Boing Boing, Art & Antiques Magazine, CREATIVE TIME,
Time Out New York, Juxtapoz, Arthur, 20×200, UrbanOutfitters.com, and
Neil Gaiman's Twitter.

She lectures on such topics as "The Occult in Modern Art 101," and
teaches classes on herbalism and ritual. Her writing has appeared in
numerous mediums, including The Huffington Post, MSN.com, the Etsy blog,
Sciences Occultes magazine, and various Fulgur press publications. As a
featured guest on The Midnight Archive web series, Expanding Mind
radio, Occult Science Radio, and the C-Realm, Psychonautica, and
Labyrinth podcasts, she has discussed the role of magic in contemporary
life.

Pam is a graduate of New York University, where she studied
anthropology, art history, and comparative religion. A resident of
Brooklyn, she lives with her playwright husband, Matthew Freeman, and
their two cat familiars, Albee and Remedios "Remy" Varo.

***

More Brilliant than Crystal: The Life and Work of Ithell Colquhoun
A Presentation by Dr. Amy Hale

This illustrated lecture will explore the rich artistic and
philosophical legacy of Ithell Colquhoun (1906-1988). Colquhoun, who
was formally associated with British Surrealism for a short time in the
late 1930s, was situated at the nexus of British esoteric thought and
culture in the mid 20th century. Through her work we can examine the
emerging social and cultural contexts of several strands of British
esoterica including Wicca, Druidry, traditionalist witchcraft, and
Hermetic magic. Furthermore, Colquhoun anticipates by decades movements
such as Goddess religion and British earth mysteries. Just as
importantly, Colquhoun's oeuvre provides us with a rare working record
of a female occultist working in a male dominated milieu, who dedicated
nearly her entire life to magic and the pursuit of enlightenment, always
without compromise.

Amy Hale, PhD (Golden Gate University) is an Anthropologist
specializing in contemporary Celtic cultures with an emphasis on
Cornwall and esoteric cultural history. She is the co-editor of New Directions in Celtic Studies (2000) and Inside Merlin's Cave: A Cornish Arthurian Reader
(2000) in addition to writing over 30 other articles ranging in topic
from Neo Druidry to Celtic cultural tourism. She is the past co-editor
of the Journal of the Academic Study of Magic (with Susan
Johnston Graf), and is working on a biography and several other projects
related to the life and work of of Ithell Colquhoun (Francis Boutle).

***

Alchemical Vessels: Vehicles of the Hermetic Tradition, A Presentation by William Kiesel, Editor-in-Chief of Ouroboros Press

The Royal Art of Alchemy has a long tradition of transmutation. The
literature is among the most artistic and thereby recognized, practices
in the western esoteric tradition. Despite this fact, alchemy is also
one of the most misunderstood arts in the tradition due to the confusion
arising from the enigmatic language and imagery employed by its
authors. A cursory glance reveals an apparent dichotomy between
allegorical and practical methods as expressed by 20th century exponents
of the art. Images in alchemy which depict specific alchemical
operations along with allegorical references will accompany an
explicatory presentation. As various operations in the tradition
customarily take place in distinct vessels, ovens and crucibles, several
images will be shown where the two methods work in concert.

William J. Kiesel is the director of Ouroboros Press,
Editor-In-Chief at CLAVIS Journal of the Art Magical and the founder of
the international Esoteric Book Conference. His personal research into
variant currents of Western Esotericism and the History of the Book has
been augmented by participation in the antiquarian and scholarly book
trade dating back to 1991. A strong supporter of Book Arts, his role
also includes independent scholarship, art curation and public speaking
in the complex and intriguing world of esoterisicm.

Gary Lachman is the author of more than a dozen books on the
meeting ground between consciousness, culture, and the western esoteric
tradition, including Madame Blavatsky: The Mother of Modern Spirituality, Rudolf Steiner: An Introduction to his Life and Work, Turn Off Your Mind: The Mystic Sixties and the Dark Side of the Age of Aquarius, A Secret History of Consciousness, The Quest for Hermes Trismegistus, and mostly recently The Caretakers of the Cosmos.
He is a regular contributor to several journals in the US and UK and
regularly lectures on his work in the UK, Europe, and US. In a prior
life Lachman was a founding member of the rock group Blondie and in 2006
was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He was born in New
Jersey but since 1996 has lived in London, England. His website is
www.garylachman.co.uk.

Mitch Horowitz is vice-president and editor-in-chief at
Tarcher/Penguin, the division of Penguin books dedicated to metaphysical
literature. He is the author of Occult America (Bantam), which received the 2010 PEN Oakland/ Josephine Miles Award for literary excellence. His new book, One Simple Idea: How Positive Thinking Reshaped Modern Life,
is forthcoming from Crown in January 2014. Horowitz frequently writes
about and discusses alternative spirituality in the national media,
including CBS Sunday Morning, Dateline NBC, All Things Considered, The
Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and CNN.com. Visit him online
at www.MitchHorowitz.com and on Twitter @MitchHorowitz.

***

Symbolic Devices: On the Hieronymous Machine and Other Magical Technologies

"If, as Arthur C Clarke famously observed, any sufficiently advanced
technology is indistinguishable from magic, then can we accept that any
sufficiently advanced magic is also indistinguishable from technology?"

In this illustrated presentation, Mark presents a historical overview of
psychotronic devices - the radiant collision point of magic, art and
technology. Psychotronic devices fuse aspects of vitalism,
electromagnetic field theory and psychic sciences like telepathy,
psychometry and dowsing. From an orthodox materialist perspective they
are cargo cult technology, a fantasy of science. But it is too simple to
reject all psionic devices out of hand as deceptions or slight-of-mind;
Instead, we can perhaps best understand them as technological
adaptations of ancient, sympathetic magical practices, a magic that
feeds on, and is fuelled by, the conviction of both the practitioner and
the subject. Mark will look the development of psychotronic
technologies from the 19th century to the present, a journey that
incorporates experimental medicines, science fiction fandom and some of
the world's most prestigious art galleries.

Mark Pilkington is the author of Mirage Men (now a feature documentary film) and Far Out: 101 Strange Tales from Science's Outer Edge
and has written for numerous magazines, anthologies and journals. Mark
is the overmind at Strange Attractor, publishing books and curating
events and exhibitions. When he's not working with words you'll find him
fiddling with synthesiers and electronic sound making devices with a
number of experimental music groups in his native London.
www.strangeattractor.co.uk / www.radionicworkshop.co.uk

***

Shannon Taggart: Physical Mediumship and the Search for Ectoplasm in Modern Spiritualist Ritual

Shannon Taggart is a photographer and independent researcher
based in Brooklyn, NY. Her work has been exhibited and published
internationally. She curates a lecture series about the science and
aesthetics of the miraculous. Currently, she is working on a book about
Spiritualism and physical mediumship.

***

Opening Night Performance: The Parlour Trick

The Parlour Trick is a "haunted chamber music" project, founded by
Meredith Yayanos in 2006. Recently, she and fellow multi-instrumentalist
Dan Cantrell released an LP of spooky seance songs under The Parlour
Trick moniker called "A Blessed Unrest". Thematically, the record is
very much a Madwoman in the Attic affair, steeped in melancholy, decay,
ritual, channeling, agoraphobia, laudanum abuse.... lots of Grimm,
grinning stuff. Hear more at theparlourtrick.bandcamp.com.

Meredith Yayanos is a musician, writer, traveler, and the
co-founder / Editor in Chief of Coilhouse Magazine & Blog. Her
theremin, violin, and vocal work has been featured on tracks with
artists including The Dresden Dolls, Beats Antique, Faun Fables, The
Vanity Set, David Garland and The Walkmen. She has also done score work
for film and television, most notably the Victorian ghost story puppet
short The Narrative of Victor Karloch, and the full-length psychological
thriller, Empty Rooms.

ACCOMPANYING ART EXHIBITION:

Concurrent with the weekend of the Occult Humanities Conference will be the exhibition Verbal, Somatic and Material. Assembled by Jesse Bransford, the exhibition collects works by many of the speakers in the form of artworks and texts.

Magic relies on at least one of three components, the verbal, the
somatic (i.e. body gestures) and a material component. The exhibition
collects works of art in text and material that connect and join the
rich metaphors of art and magic.

Samhain/All Souls’ Ritual Workshop with Pam Grossman

***You must RSVP to phantasmaphile [at] gmail.com if you’d like to attend, as space is limited

Samhain, Day of the Dead, and All Soul’s Day all fall between October
31st and November 2nd. Regardless of the holiday’s name of your
choosing, this is the time of year when the veil between worlds is
thinnest. It is also considered “Witches’ New Year,” and it is when our
powers of foresight and intuition are at their peak. Tonight, we
gather to commune with our ancestors, honor them, and ask for their
guidance. We will also use methods divination and meditation to set our
intention for the coming year. Finally, we shall feed our beloved dead
and ourselves with a traditional “Silent Supper.”

Please bring:

-A bit of food or drink to share with the group, and a bit extra for our ancestors

-Any altar objects you like. Photographs or other meaningful items of those who have passed are highly recommended.
Other objects can be decorative (Halloween or autumnal decor of any
kind is welcome), and/or personal objects which you’d like to have
charged.

-A candle and holder

-A cushion, pillow, or fabric, as we will be sitting on the floor (chairs will be available for those who need).

Note-taking is welcome. This workshop is open to men and women, novices and advanced practitioners alike.

August 21, 2013

I am thrilled to announce The Occult Humanities Conference, taking place on October 18th-20th at NYU, and co-organized by myself and Jesse Bransford. The weekend will feature lectures, an art exhibition, and entertainment, all of which explore occult subject matter.

The Occult Humanities Conference is a weekend conference to be held in
New York City on October 18-20th, 2013. The conference will present a
wide array of voices active in the cultural landscape who are
specifically addressing the occult tradition through research,
scholarship and artistic practice.

The arts and humanities at present are acutely interested in subjects
related to the occult tradition. The tradition represents a rich and
varied visual culture that displays a complex set of relations at once
culturally specific and global in their transmission. Roughly defined,
the occult tradition represents a series of culturally syncretic belief
systems with related and overlapping visual histories. Though there are
as many ways into this material as there are cultural - and personal -
perspectives, universal occult concerns often include a belief in some
sort of magic; a longing to connect with an immaterial or trans-personal
realm; and a striving for inner-knowledge, refinement of the self, and
transformation of one's consciousness - if not one's physical
circumstances.

Intensely marginalized throughout most historical periods, these
traditions persist and represent an 'underground' perspective that
periodically exerts a strong influence on structures of dissent,
utopianism and social change. Though history is marked with several
so-called "Occult Revivals," the contemporary digital age is a perfect
confluence of several factors which make this moment prime for a
reexamination of all of the esoteric traditions. While the information
age has allowed for easier access to previously obscure writings,
imagery, and social contexts, it alternately elicits a deep desire for
sensorial experiences and meaning-making once one steps away from the
screen.

The presenters at the OHC represent a rich and expanding community of
international artists and academics from multiple disciplines across the
humanities who share an exuberance and excitement for how the occult
traditions interface with their fields of study as well as the culture
at large. The small scale of this conference (approximately 100
attendees) will give ticket holders an intimate look at the presenters
and their views.

The visually-oriented presentations will be coupled with an exhibition
of artworks by several presenters and artisanal books from Fulgur
Esoterica and Ouroboros Press.

Schedule:

FRIDAY October 18

8:00-8:30pm

Welcome from conference organizers Pam Grossman & Jesse Bransford

Jesse Bransford; Pam Grossman

8:30-10:00pm

Wine and Cheese Reception with live music from The Parlour Trick

The Parlour Trick

SATURDAY October 19

9:00-9:30am

Welcome, Announcements & Opening Remarks

Jesse Bransford; Pam Grossman

9:30-10:30am

Like A Messenger to the Deep: Deciphering the Occult in Leonora Carrington

Susan Aberth

10:30-11:00am

BREAK

11:00am-12:00pm

Witch-Hunters in the Book-Shops: the History of the Cornell Witchcraft Collection (1866-2013)

Due to the very intimate size of this event, we anticipate selling out, so we encourage you to grab your tickets as soon as possible, should you care to join us. And we certainly hope you will!

On a related note, Jesse Bransford will have a show opening the night before the conference at Feature Inc on Thursday, October 17th. While this show is not officially associated with the OHC, the timing is certainly synchronistic, and several of us will be at the reception from 6-8pm to celebrate. Do come along to that as well.

July 17, 2013

I've apparently posted about the phantasmagorical, theatrical dance troupe, Desert Sin, no less than 1, 2, 3, 4 times on here already. And some of you may know I invited them to perform their crystalline "Snow Queen" dance at my 30th birthday party a few years back. This is all to say that I adore them, and that anything they do you can bet I'm buying tickets for. I've been a fan of theirs for 5 years and counting, and always wait with bated breath to see what creations they'll concoct next.

So you can imagine the joy I feel in announcing that their upcoming extravaganza, "Cloud Cuckooland" will be in collaboration with none other than Matthew Freeman, playwright/Jedi/husband. It's the stuff dreams are made of, that's for sure. There will be avian dancers! Puppets! Lavish costumes! Music to swoon to! And a story that will rivet you to your seat, no doubt. Here are some more details, including information about their fundraising efforts. Please consider donating if you can:

Coming soon to New York and beyond:

Slated for Spring 2014, a new HAUNTINGLY
BEAUTIFUL production,

“CLOUD CUCKOOLAND”

a love story
(and possible tragedy) about escapism, and its inevitable collision with
reality.

WE NEED YOUR
SUPPORT! It is only through the continued support of
our friends, family, and fans that we can make these wonderful shows for
you! As you know, there is an awful lot
of prep that goes into these larger productions.

We need to raise $5000 to cover the
cost for the next several months of rehearsal studio rental, as well as the initial designer, composer, and dancers’ fees.

“Cloud Cuckooland” is an internationally collaborative
production rooted in dance with experimental use of digital projections,
puppetry, and an entirely original score.
Artists on board currently include Los Angeles’ very own Puppet Master Jesse
Kingsley of Mystery Bird Puppets, and Emmy award-winning Sound Designer Daniel
Colman, New York’s award-winning Playwright Matthew Freeman, Costume Designer
Kristin Costa, composers David Kammerer, Damon Ketron, and Australian composer
Joe Savage.

A donation
of any amount can make a difference. And
what’s this? Djahari Clark (Artistic Director of Desert Sin) is a Sponsored Artist
with The Field, a not-for-profit organization serving the New York City
performing arts community so all donations are tax-deductible. *

All funds
raised will go towards the further development and production of “Cloud
Cuckooland”. Help us bring another
heartbreaking, gorgeous collaboration to life! We know that it is through your gracious
support that we thrive. We thank you!

July 09, 2013

I'm so excited for this event on Thursday at Observatory. Jesse Bransford is one of my favorite living artists, and I feel lucky to call him my friend and future collaborator (more on that soon). Though he's lectured and exhibited at Observatory several times before, it's a rare treat to get to hear him speak personally about the ways in which he incorporates magickal techniques and ritual into his artwork. Please come prepared for an evening full of art and occult knowledge!

Jesse Bransford: Building the Fourth Pyramid, an Occult Art Installation at Galveston

In 2012, the artist and mage, Jesse Bransford,
was invited to create an installation for the respected Galveston
Artist Residency in Texas. The result was his room of visual spellcraft,
which he named “THE FOURTH PYRAMID.” In GAR’s words:

“For our first exhibition of 2013, marking our one-year anniversary
on this island, GAR has teamed up with artist Jesse Bransford to bring
about the existence of THE FOURTH PYRAMID. If ever there were an artist
who could make transformative magic a reality it would be Bransford.
Building off of nearly ten years of research, Bransford’s drawings and
numerical symbols transform the GAR gallery into a space charged with
possibility, a three dimensional spell, an incantation you can move
through. The artist invokes many magical traditions to create his work,
but especially focuses on the European Renaissance magical tradition.
The symbols feel at once familiar and incredibly alien. Like a language
forgotten, or a past life only glimpsed through dreams. They are
universal and yet illegible. Phenomenal and noumenal.”

In this presentation Jesse shares with us the process of casting the
spells – and spills – of the project. He has lectured at Observatory
before about the Thoth tarot and magic squares, but this will be the
first time he offers a rare glimpse of the magick that goes into the
creation of his own fine artworks.

Jesse Bransford is a Brooklyn-based artist whose
work is exhibited internationally. He holds degrees from the New School
for Social Research (BA), Parsons School of Design (BFA) and Columbia
University (MFA). An associate professor at New York University,
Bransford’s work has been involved with belief and the visual systems it
creates since the 1990s. Research into colour meaning and cultural
syncretism led to the occult traditions in general and the work of John
Dee and Henry Cornelius Agrippa specifically. His work is represented by
Feature Inc. in New York and can be seen extensively documented on the
website www.sevenseven.com, a site he has operated and maintained since
1997.

Real Magic: The Life and Methods of Neville Goddard

Neville Goddard (1905-1972) was one of the most intriguing and
intellectually arousing metaphysical teachers of the last century. His
work, written under the solitary pen-name Neville, was as radical as it
was simple: the Barbados-born mystic argued that God is nothing other
than the human imagination. Your thoughts and feelings, Neville
taught, give shape to the world around you; and this world can be
changed when you understand how to use the mental and emotive states
that created it.

Neville’s philosophy is so audacious that most serious people
immediately want to argue with it or push it away. Yet this underground
thinker has been steadily growing in popularity. His ideas, which he
articulated in books and thousands of lectures, represent the most
elegant and rigorous thought system to emerge from the culture of
mind-power metaphysics that swept America in the last century. Neville’s
statements, beginning in the 1930s, bear striking (and serious)
resemblance to contemporary findings in quantum physics,
neuroplasticity, and other fields of study.

In this special lecture and presentation, acclaimed writer and historian Mitch Horowitz (Occult America)
explores the life and methods of this modern magus. Mitch shows how
Neville’s techniques for self development are disarmingly simple,
bracingly original, and, quite possibly, profoundly impactful for the
individual.

Mitch writes extensively about Neville in his forthcoming history of the positive-thinking movement, One Simple Idea
(Crown, Jan 2014). This talk is the first public preview of those
themes. In particular, Mitch explores Neville’s personal history, which
includes his early years in New York City under the tutelage of a
mysterious spiritual “master” named Abdullah. The reality and identity
of Abdullah have long fueled debate. As Mitch reveals, Abdullah was
likely a real figure – who may even be identifiable.

Israel Regardie wrote in 1946 of Neville: “Of all the metaphysical
systems with which I am acquainted, Neville’s is the most magical.” This
evening’s presentation not only parts the veil on the life, work, and
personal history of this great metaphysical persona, but highlights
Neville’s practical ideas and techniques, which may hold the key to
something truly extraordinary for us today.

* * *

Mitch Horowitz is vice-president and editor-in-chief
at Tarcher/Penguin, the division of Penguin books dedicated to
metaphysical literature. He is the author of Occult America (Bantam), which received the 2010 PEN Oakland/ Josephine Miles Award for literary excellence. His new book, One Simple Idea: How Positive Thinking Reshaped Modern Life, is
forthcoming from Crown in January 2014. Horowitz frequently writes
about and discusses alternative spirituality in the national media,
including CBS Sunday Morning, Dateline NBC, All Things Considered, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and CNN.com. He and his wife raise two sons in New York City. He is online at: www.MitchHorowitz.com

June 19, 2013

Just a reminder, I've got some great events coming up at Observatory, including a newly listed talk with Jesse Bransford. Looking forward to seeing some of you over the coming weeks - maybe even as early as this Friday for Solstice:

Summer Solstice Ritual Workshop

***You must RSVP to phantasmaphile [at] gmail.com if you’d like to attend, as space is limited

Solstices are ideal times to recalibrate and rebalance. The word
“solstice” comes from “sol” – the sun, and “sistere” – to stand still.
In this workshop, we’ll take time out of our busy schedules to be still
like the sun, and soak up its golden magick. We’ll learn ways to carry
the sun with us and draw upon its power whenever we need it, as well as
other methods for increasing our yang. The intention for the
class is to recharge ourselves with bold and solar energy, and to
welcome the beginning of summer. Our time together will be filled with
spellcrafting, meditation, and, of course, feasting!

Please bring:

-A bit of food or drink to share

-Any altar objects you like. These can be
decorative (Summery decor of any kind is welcome), and/or personal
objects which you’d like to have charged

-A short candle and holder (votive or short pillar candle, NOT a tall taper)

-A cushion, pillow, or fabric, as we will be sitting on the floor (chairs will be available for those who need).

Note-taking is welcome. This workshop is open to men and women, novices and advanced practitioners alike.

Pam Grossman is an independent curator, writer, and lifelong student of magical practice and history. She is the creator of Phantasmaphile, a blog which specializes in art and culture with an esoteric or fantastical bent, and Associate Editor of Abraxas Journal.
Her group art shows, Fata Morgana: The New Female Fantasists, VISION
QUEST, Alchemically Yours, and Sigils & Signs have been featured by
such outlets as Art & Antiques Magazine, Boing Boing, CREATIVE TIME,
Time Out New York, Reality Sandwich, Juxtapoz, Arthur, 20×200,
UrbanOutfitters.com, and Neil Gaiman’s Twitter. She is a co-founder of
Observatory, where her programming aims to explore mysticism via a
scholarly yet accessible approach.

Real Magic: The Life and Methods of Neville Goddard

Neville Goddard (1905-1972) was one of the most intriguing and
intellectually arousing metaphysical teachers of the last century. His
work, written under the solitary pen-name Neville, was as radical as it
was simple: the Barbados-born mystic argued that God is nothing other
than the human imagination. Your thoughts and feelings, Neville
taught, give shape to the world around you; and this world can be
changed when you understand how to use the mental and emotive states
that created it.

Neville’s philosophy is so audacious that most serious people
immediately want to argue with it or push it away. Yet this underground
thinker has been steadily growing in popularity. His ideas, which he
articulated in books and thousands of lectures, represent the most
elegant and rigorous thought system to emerge from the culture of
mind-power metaphysics that swept America in the last century. Neville’s
statements, beginning in the 1930s, bear striking (and serious)
resemblance to contemporary findings in quantum physics,
neuroplasticity, and other fields of study.

In this special lecture and presentation, acclaimed writer and historian Mitch Horowitz (Occult America)
explores the life and methods of this modern magus. Mitch shows how
Neville’s techniques for self development are disarmingly simple,
bracingly original, and, quite possibly, profoundly impactful for the
individual.

Mitch writes extensively about Neville in his forthcoming history of the positive-thinking movement, One Simple Idea
(Crown, Jan 2014). This talk is the first public preview of those
themes. In particular, Mitch explores Neville’s personal history, which
includes his early years in New York City under the tutelage of a
mysterious spiritual “master” named Abdullah. The reality and identity
of Abdullah have long fueled debate. As Mitch reveals, Abdullah was
likely a real figure – who may even be identifiable.

Israel Regardie wrote in 1946 of Neville: “Of all the metaphysical
systems with which I am acquainted, Neville’s is the most magical.” This
evening’s presentation not only parts the veil on the life, work, and
personal history of this great metaphysical persona, but highlights
Neville’s practical ideas and techniques, which may hold the key to
something truly extraordinary for us today.

* * *

Mitch Horowitz is vice-president and editor-in-chief
at Tarcher/Penguin, the division of Penguin books dedicated to
metaphysical literature. He is the author of Occult America (Bantam), which received the 2010 PEN Oakland/ Josephine Miles Award for literary excellence. His new book, One Simple Idea: How Positive Thinking Reshaped Modern Life, is
forthcoming from Crown in January 2014. Horowitz frequently writes
about and discusses alternative spirituality in the national media,
including CBS Sunday Morning, Dateline NBC, All Things Considered, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and CNN.com. He and his wife raise two sons in New York City. He is online at: www.MitchHorowitz.com

Jesse Bransford: Building the Fourth Pyramid, an Occult Art Installation at Galveston

In 2012, the artist and mage, Jesse Bransford,
was invited to create an installation for the respected Galveston
Artist Residency in Texas. The result was his room of visual spellcraft,
which he named “THE FOURTH PYRAMID.” In GAR’s words:

“For our first exhibition of 2013, marking our one-year anniversary
on this island, GAR has teamed up with artist Jesse Bransford to bring
about the existence of THE FOURTH PYRAMID. If ever there were an artist
who could make transformative magic a reality it would be Bransford.
Building off of nearly ten years of research, Bransford’s drawings and
numerical symbols transform the GAR gallery into a space charged with
possibility, a three dimensional spell, an incantation you can move
through. The artist invokes many magical traditions to create his work,
but especially focuses on the European Renaissance magical tradition.
The symbols feel at once familiar and incredibly alien. Like a language
forgotten, or a past life only glimpsed through dreams. They are
universal and yet illegible. Phenomenal and noumenal.”

In this presentation Jesse shares with us the process of casting the
spells – and spills – of the project. He has lectured at Observatory
before about the Thoth tarot and magic squares, but this will be the
first time he offers a rare glimpse of the magick that goes into the
creation of his own fine artworks.

Jesse Bransford is a Brooklyn-based artist whose
work is exhibited internationally. He holds degrees from the New School
for Social Research (BA), Parsons School of Design (BFA) and Columbia
University (MFA). An associate professor at New York University,
Bransford’s work has been involved with belief and the visual systems it
creates since the 1990s. Research into colour meaning and cultural
syncretism led to the occult traditions in general and the work of John
Dee and Henry Cornelius Agrippa specifically. His work is represented by
Feature Inc. in New York and can be seen extensively documented on the
website www.sevenseven.com, a site he has operated and maintained since
1997.

Summer Solstice Ritual Workshop

***You must RSVP to phantasmaphile [at] gmail.com if you’d like to attend, as space is limited

Solstices are ideal times to recalibrate
and rebalance. The word “solstice” comes from “sol” – the sun, and
“sistere” – to stand still. In this workshop, we’ll take time out of
our busy schedules to be still like the sun, and soak up its golden
magick. We’ll learn ways to carry the sun with us and draw upon its
power whenever we need it, as well as other methods for increasing our yang.
The intention for the class is to recharge ourselves with bold and
solar energy, and to welcome the beginning of summer. Our time together
will be filled with spellcrafting, meditation, and, of course,
feasting!

Please bring:

-A bit of food or drink to share

-Any altar objects you
like. These can be decorative (Summery decor of any kind is welcome),
and/or personal objects which you’d like to have charged

-A short candle and holder (votive or short pillar candle, NOT a tall taper)

-A cushion, pillow, or fabric, as we will be sitting on the floor (chairs will be available for those who need).

Note-taking is welcome. This workshop is open to men and women, novices and advanced practitioners alike.

I’ll be a panelist at “The Keys to the Occult & The Evolution of Consciousness” evening at the Meta Center on Thursday, June 27th:

I'll also be hosting the illustrious Mitch Horowitz at Observatory, where he'll be giving a talk on occult visionary Neville Goddard on Friday, June 28th:

Real Magic: The Life and Methods of Neville Goddard

Neville Goddard (1905-1972) was one of the most intriguing and
intellectually arousing metaphysical teachers of the last century. His
work, written under the solitary pen-name Neville, was as radical as it
was simple: the Barbados-born mystic argued that God is nothing other
than the human imagination. Your thoughts and feelings, Neville
taught, give shape to the world around you; and this world can be
changed when you understand how to use the mental and emotive states
that created it.

Neville’s philosophy is so audacious that most serious people
immediately want to argue with it or push it away. Yet this underground
thinker has been steadily growing in popularity. His ideas, which he
articulated in books and thousands of lectures, represent the most
elegant and rigorous thought system to emerge from the culture of
mind-power metaphysics that swept America in the last century. Neville’s
statements, beginning in the 1930s, bear striking (and serious)
resemblance to contemporary findings in quantum physics,
neuroplasticity, and other fields of study.

In this special lecture and presentation, acclaimed writer and historian Mitch Horowitz (Occult America)
explores the life and methods of this modern magus. Mitch shows how
Neville’s techniques for self development are disarmingly simple,
bracingly original, and, quite possibly, profoundly impactful for the
individual.

Mitch writes extensively about Neville in his forthcoming history of the positive-thinking movement, One Simple Idea
(Crown, Jan 2014). This talk is the first public preview of those
themes. In particular, Mitch explores Neville’s personal history, which
includes his early years in New York City under the tutelage of a
mysterious spiritual “master” named Abdullah. The reality and identity
of Abdullah have long fueled debate. As Mitch reveals, Abdullah was
likely a real figure – who may even be identifiable.

Israel Regardie wrote in 1946 of Neville: “Of all the metaphysical
systems with which I am acquainted, Neville’s is the most magical.” This
evening’s presentation not only parts the veil on the life, work, and
personal history of this great metaphysical persona, but highlights
Neville’s practical ideas and techniques, which may hold the key to
something truly extraordinary for us today.

* * *

Mitch Horowitz is vice-president and editor-in-chief
at Tarcher/Penguin, the division of Penguin books dedicated to
metaphysical literature. He is the author of Occult America (Bantam), which received the 2010 PEN Oakland/ Josephine Miles Award for literary excellence. His new book, One Simple Idea: How Positive Thinking Reshaped Modern Life, is
forthcoming from Crown in January 2014. Horowitz frequently writes
about and discusses alternative spirituality in the national media,
including CBS Sunday Morning, Dateline NBC, All Things Considered, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and CNN.com. He and his wife raise two sons in New York City. He is online at: www.MitchHorowitz.com

I'm also currently featured on The Labyrinth podcast with Cesar Torres. It was such a pleasure speaking with him about art, magick, witches, plants, and more. Please give it a listen.

Though few history books make mention of it, many of our most lauded
artists — Picasso, Kandinsky, Mondrian, Duchamp, to name but a few —
were deeply influenced by the occult. The imagery and tenets of arcane
traditions including alchemy, Spiritualism, Theosophy, and shamanism
have infused the work of artists through the ages. Beginning with the
Symbolists, then spiraling through such periods as Cubism, Dada,
Surrealism (with its wonderfully witchy women), Abstract Expressionism,
and the visionary art of today, this evening’s lecture will be a visual
primer on the existence of magic in our museums and galleries.

This talk will be immediately followed by the US launch celebration of Abraxas Journal’s Special Issue #1. Copies will be available for sale – save on international shipping! – and wine will be served.

Pam Grossman is an independent curator, writer, and lifelong student of magical practice and history. She is the creator of Phantasmaphile, a blog which specializes in art and culture with an esoteric or fantastical bent, and Associate Editor of Abraxas Journal.
Her group art shows, Fata Morgana: The New Female Fantasists, VISION
QUEST, Alchemically Yours, and Sigils & Signs have been featured by
such outlets as Art & Antiques Magazine, Boing Boing, CREATIVE TIME,
Time Out New York, Reality Sandwich, Juxtapoz, Arthur, 20×200,
UrbanOutfitters.com, and Neil Gaiman’s Twitter. She is a co-founder of
Observatory, where her programming aims to explore mysticism via a
scholarly yet accessible approach.

A Fate Worse Than Death: The Perils of Being a Famous Corpse

Most of us know what our afterlives are going to be like: eternity in
the ground, or resting in an urn on some relative’s mantelpiece. If
we’re lucky, our children might occasionally bring us flowers or a
potted plant, and that’s about as interesting as things are going to
get.

Not so the famous deceased. For millennia, they’ve been bought and
sold, worshipped and reviled, studied, collected, stolen, and dissected.
They’ve been the star attractions at museums and churches, and used to
found cemeteries, cities, even empires. Pieces of them have languished
in libraries and universities, in coolers inside closets, and in
suitcases underneath beds. For them, eternity has been anything but
easy.

The more notable or notorious the body, the more likely it is that
someone’s tried to disturb it. Consider the near-snatching of Abraham
Lincoln, or the attempt on Elvis’s tomb. Then there’s Descartes, who is
missing his head, and Galileo, who is spending eternity without his
middle finger. Napoleon’s missing something a bit lower, as is the
Russian mystic Rasputin, at least if the rumors are true. Meanwhile,
Jesse James has had three graves, and may not have been in any of them,
while it took a court case and an exhumation to prove that Lee Harvey
Oswald was in his.

In this illustrated lecture, Bess Lovejoy will draw on her new book, Rest in Pieces,
to discuss the many threats faced by famous corpses–from furta sacra
(“holy theft” of saintly relics), to skull-stealing phrenologists,
“Resurrection Men” digging up cadavers for medical schools, modern organ
harvesters, the depredations of crazed fans, and much more.

Rest in Pieces will also be available for sale, and wine will be served in celebration of its release.

Bess Lovejoy is a writer,
researcher, and editor based in Seattle. She writes about dead people,
forgotten history, and sometimes art, literature, and science. Her
writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Believer, The Boston Globe, The Stranger, and other publications. She worked on the Schott’s Almanac series for five years. Visit her at BessLovejoy.com.

Beltane is just a few days away, so it’s the perfect time to focus on
heart-centered magick. Spring is blooming, bonfires are burning, and
love is all around us. This is traditionally the time of year when
fertility – in all its forms – is celebrated. The concept of union
(what the alchemists call conjunctio) is key to meditate upon now, as we focus on ways to balance our own internal opposites, and work towards inner completion.

In this ritual workshop, we’ll discuss ways to heal our hearts, and
make them more fertile places for love and creativity. We’ll learn
about herbs for both physical and spiritual heart-health – as well as a
few aphrodisiacs for good measure! Each attendee will also craft a love
spell, whether for someone you know, for yourself, or for the wider
world.

Please bring:

-A candle with a candle-holder.

-Any altar objects you like. These can be decorative and/or personal objects which you’d like to have charged.

-A cushion, pillow, or fabric, as we will be sitting on the floor (chairs will be available for those who need).

Note-taking is welcome. This workshop is open to men and women, novices and advanced practitioners alike.

Pam Grossman is an
independent curator and lifelong student of magickal practice and
history. An initiate in the wise woman tradition, she is a graduate of
Robin Rose Bennett’s 3-year green witch apprenticeship. She is the
creator of Phantasmaphile, a blog which specializes in art and culture with an esoteric or fantastical bent, and Associate Editor of Abraxas Journal.
Her group art shows, Fata Morgana: The New Female Fantasists, VISION
QUEST, Alchemically Yours, and Sigils & Signs have been featured by
such outlets as Art & Antiques Magazine, Boing Boing, CREATIVE TIME,
Time Out New York, Reality Sandwich, Juxtapoz, Arthur, 20×200,
UrbanOutfitters.com, and Neil Gaiman’s Twitter. She is a co-founder of
Observatory, where her programming aims to explore mysticism via a
scholarly yet accessible approach.

April 09, 2013

Legendary esoteric publishing & fine art house, Fulgur, has just announced their group show and lecture series happening in London next month. (As some of you know, Fulgur also publishes Abraxas, the journal of which I'm Associate Editor. Do order our new issue if you haven't already!) I:MAGE will hopefully be the first of many group shows of artists on the Fulgur roster, and the accompanying lectures are truly not to be missed either. Have a look:

I:MAGE

An Inaugural Exhibition of Esoteric Artists

LONDON, 19th-25th May, 2013

I:MAGE is a selling exhibition hosted by FULGUR ESOTERICA that brings
together for the first time an international group of artists working
in the esoteric genre.

Ranging from the work of progressive women such as Ithell Colquhoun
and Steffi Grant, to the dark symbolist themes of Agostino Arrivabene
and Denis Forkas Kostromitin, and to the contemporary exploratory
audio-visual practices of NOKO, I:MAGE promises to be a landmark
exhibition.

Held in the heart of London at the Store Street Gallery, this show
will cover two floors and over 1600sq ft of exhibition space. A full
colour catalogue will be available.

To mark this occasion a week of special evening events and
art-related projects will be held in collaboration with Treadwell’s
Bookshop, next door.

Saturday 25th, 4-10pm @ Treadwells and Store Street Gallery. Launch
Party for the Abraxas Special Issue – Charming Intentions: Occultism,
Magic and the History of Art. Select Papers from the Cambridge
University Conference, December 2012.

I'll be cheering everyone on from afar! Lucky Londoners, do relish this one, as it will be such a rare confluence of today's most brilliant esoteric minds.

Beltane is just a few days away, so it’s the perfect time to focus on
heart-centered magick. Spring is blooming, bonfires are burning, and
love is all around us. This is traditionally the time of year when
fertility – in all its forms – is celebrated. The concept of union
(what the alchemists call conjunctio) is key to meditate upon now, as we focus on ways to balance our own internal opposites, and work towards inner completion.

In this ritual workshop, we’ll discuss ways to heal our hearts, and
make them more fertile places for love and creativity. We’ll learn
about herbs for both physical and spiritual heart-health – as well as a
few aphrodisiacs for good measure! Each attendee will also craft a love
spell, whether for someone you know, for yourself, or for the wider
world.

Please bring:

-A candle with a candle-holder.

-Any altar objects you like. These can be decorative and/or personal objects which you’d like to have charged.

-A cushion, pillow, or fabric, as we will be sitting on the floor (chairs will be available for those who need).

Note-taking is welcome. This workshop is open to men and women, novices and advanced practitioners alike.

Pam Grossman is an
independent curator, writer, and lifelong student of magickal practice and
history. An initiate in the wise woman tradition, she is a graduate of
Robin Rose Bennett’s 3-year green witch apprenticeship. She is the
creator of Phantasmaphile, a blog which specializes in art and culture with an esoteric or fantastical bent, and Associate Editor of Abraxas Journal.
Her group art shows, Fata Morgana: The New Female Fantasists, VISION
QUEST, Alchemically Yours, and Sigils & Signs have been featured by
such outlets as Art & Antiques Magazine, Boing Boing, CREATIVE TIME,
Time Out New York, Reality Sandwich, Juxtapoz, Arthur, 20×200,
UrbanOutfitters.com, and Neil Gaiman’s Twitter. She is a co-founder of
Observatory, where her programming aims to explore mysticism via a
scholarly yet accessible approach.

CUT/PASTE/GROW

Life is restless. Bioartists—the emerging group of practitioners who
manipulate living tissues, DNA, and bacteria—must embrace this
restlessness. Working in the lab, the artist can’t contain his medium.
Even in the Petri dish, fungal spores invade the colonies, or the slime
mold overruns maze. Precision gives way to open-ended experiment. The
lab is a garden, and the bioartist is the gardener for the new
millennium, where breeding advances naturally into gene splicing.

CUT/PASTE/GROW provides a space to ask fundamental new questions
about aesthetics and our assumptions about life and death. What, for
example, makes a beautiful blueprint for a beautiful form—what makes a
beautiful gene?

By cutting and pasting DNA into a being, the organism itself—both in
function and behavior—becomes a chimera, a hybrid natural/engineered
being stitched from disparate parts, a result of both Darwinian
evolution and the will of the artist.

Since antiquity, hybrids were considered abominations. Today, we can
view them in any number of ways: Are these chimerae quasi-artworks or
quasi-organisms? Is bioart a new approach to society and ecology, a
partnership with the microbial life all around us?

Observatory
is a gallery and event space in the Gowanus neighborhood of Brooklyn,
New York. Inspired by natural history, morbid anatomy, and the
intersection of art and science, Observatory hosts lectures, classes,
and exhibitions. Observatory is part of the Proteus Gowanus art complex,
located at 543 Union Street (at Nevins). Gallery hours are 3–6 PM,
Thursdays–Fridays; 12–6 PM, Saturdays–Sundays.

Genspace is a
nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting education in molecular
biology for both children and adults. Its staff and volunteers work
inside and outside of traditional settings, providing a safe, supportive
environment for training and mentoring in biotechnology. Genspace also
supplies a Biosafety Level 1 lab for biologists, laypeople, and artists
to gather and collaborate on biotechnology projects.

Nurit Bar-Shai is a co-founder of Genspace and an
interdisciplinary artist who works at the intersection of art, science,
and technology. She composes video, live telematic installations and
conducts experiments through creative collaborative inquiry. Nurit
lectures and exhibits her work worldwide.

Daniel Grushkin is a co-founder of Genspace and a
journalist who covers the intersection of science, biotechnology, and
culture. His articles have appeared in The New York Times, Businessweek, National Geographic Adventure, Popular Science, and Scientific American.

Wythe Marschall writes and teaches about futurism. With artist Ethan Gould, he is the author of Suspicious Anatomy,
an illustrated book of fake neuroscience. At Observatory, Wythe has
curated art shows and lectures on retrofuturism, technological ecstasy,
the neo-grotesque, and the para-academic. Wythe teaches undergraduate
literature at Brooklyn College. His stories and essays have appeared in McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern and elsewhere.

William Myers teaches and writes about the history of architecture, art and design. His book BioDesign: Nature + Science + Creativity
was published by The Museum of Modern Art in New York and Thames &
Hudson in London in 2012. He has worked for the Solomon R. Guggenheim
Museum, The Museum of Modern Art, the Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt National
Design Museum, Hunter College, and Genspace.

Adventures in Limbo: The Neither-Neither World of Austin Osman Spare (and Abraxas 3 US Launch!)

Austin Osman Spare was an English occult artist working in the
early-to-mid 20th Century. An exceptional illustrator and painter, he
also developed his own mystical practice involving sigils and other
esoteric codification. In this 60min audio-visual journey, we are
invited to explore Austin Spare’s approach to creating magical art. His
liminal methods are then compared with classical composers working
during his lifetime. There is also a soundtrack by John Contreras (of
Current 93 and Baby Dee) that was composed uniquely for this
presentation.

Robert Ansell is the managing director of the highly-regarded publishers FULGUR.
For more than 20 years he has collaborated with writers and artists,
both established and new, to produce some of the most inspirational
magical books of recent times. In 2009 Robert launched Abraxas, a high quality journal of esoteric studies that has been widely lauded.

A specialist in the art and sorcery of Austin Osman Spare, his published work includes; AOS Ex-Libris (1988), The Book of Ugly Ecstasy (1996), Borough Satyr (2005), The Valley of Fear (2008), The Exhibition Catalogues of Austin O. Spare (2011) and The Focus of Life
(2012). In 2010 he was also interviewed on Austin Spare for the BBC
Culture Show. Though rarely seen as a public lecturer, his two recent
appearances concerning Spare, AOS: A Celebration (2006) and The Cult of One (2007) received critical acclaim.

Photography prodigy and Observatory member, Shannon Taggart, will be hosting the following three spiritualist lectures/demonstrations:

Traditional Spiritualist Message Service with UK Medium Myra Basey

Myra Basey, a Spiritualist medium visiting from the UK, will conduct a
traditional Spiritualist message service and demonstration of
clairvoyance. A brief introduction to Spiritualism and message services
in general will also be included. This is a rare opportunity – hope to
see you there!

About the presenter – From early childhood Myra Basey
has communicated with spirits and has had distinct memories of a past
life. These surfaced spontaneously and contained memories of places and
specific situations and events. As well as travelling America and
Canada, lecturing, training and holding workshops and discussion groups,
Myra has worked all over the UK, spending a number of years in
residency at the Spiritualist Association of Great Britain in London.

Using still photography and video, Walter Meyer zu Erpenwill
outline the history of table levitation phenomena from 1850
onwards. He will combine historical research with his personal
experience of more than 130 sessions in a home circle sitting to elicit
table phenomena. This discussion will include the experiments of
psychical researchers with physical mediums Eusapia Palladino and Jack
Webber, among others; table phenomena in sitter groups including but not
limited to those conducted by W. J. Crawford, Dr. T. Glen Hamilton, and
Kenneth J. Batcheldor; and modern phenomena such as the levitation of a
65-pound table from the hands of the Thurmond Group in upstate New York
in 1975.

From 1998 to 2010, historian and archivist Walter Meyer zu Erpen participated
in a Canadian Spiritualist study group in Victoria, British Columbia,
that observed strong psychokinetic table movements, including lifting,
rocking, and pivoting of a square, 21-pound table. Their activities were
featured in the Canadian TV documentary Conjuring Philip as
part of psychical researcher Iris Owen’s retelling of how her
Toronto-based research group created “Philip,” an imaginary ghost,
during the 1970s.

Automatic writing (or psychography) is writing which the writer
claims to be produced from a subconscious, external or spiritual source
without conscious awareness of the content. Automatism, the cornerstone
of Surrealism, was co-opted from Spiritualism’s use of automation as
a technique to create without conscious self-censorship. The automatic
writing and drawing practiced by the Surrealists can be compared to
methods used in other artistic efforts such as actionist painting
and the improvisation of free jazz.

During this presentation, Myra Basey, a Spiritualist medium visiting
from the UK, will demonstrate her unique form of automatic writing. A
stripped down fountain pen is propped against the clenched fist of her
left hand (although she is right handed) to produce writing. The
messages make complete sense and every word can be read clearly. She
works with two specific spirits, one of whom she identifies as Elvis
Presley. Since 1977 she has written thousands of transmissions from
Elvis.

A brief overview of automatic writing will be presented. Myra will
talk about the mechanics of physical mediumship and automatic writing as
well as share what she has learned from years of practice. There will
be a question and answer session for those interested in pursuing the
automatic writing process and those curious about Spiritualism and
psychic matters.

About the presenter – From early childhood Myra Basey
has communicated with spirits and has had distinct memories of a past
life. These surfaced spontaneously and contained memories of places and
specific situations and events. As well as travelling America and
Canada, lecturing, training and holding workshops and discussion groups,
Myra has worked all over the UK, spending a number of years in
residency at the Spiritualist Association of Great Britain in London.

Observatory member, Joanna Ebenstein of Morbid Anatomy, is abroad for several months doing all kinds of glamorous and deadly things, but her programming has continued at our space, thanks to her assistant, Laeticia Barbier. Of Phantasmaphilic interest in particular in this just-announced event about lover's eyes:

Love’s Unknowable Eye: The Curious History and Mysterious Allure of 18th century “Lovers Eyes”

Tonight at Observatory, we invite you to join us for a highly
illustrated talk on what were historically called “eye miniatures,” now
called “lover’s eyes.” These beautiful portrait miniatures, featuring
only the eye of the sitter, enjoyed a brief stint of outrageous
popularity in the 18th century after a scandal involving the Prince of
Wales, an illicit love affair, and a dramatic suicide attempt over the
rejected love of a forbidden woman. Often created as tokens of memory
for unsanctioned love, these gorgeous paintings—intensely intimate yet
mysteriously anonymous—were lushly rendered on such media as ivory or
copper. More than just treasures or statements of wealth, they were
symbols of devotion, marriage, death, infidelity, memory, and promise.
Nearly all of these enigmatic eyes are from lovers unknown, fictions
that lure us with a fixed gaze, unyielding in its mystery and desire.
Although the feverish mania for these objects ended nearly as quickly as
it began, they continue to inspire, serving as muse to contemporary
artists, photographers, painters and tattooists who explore the concept
in thoroughly contemporary manners.

Tonight, Chicago based artist Lauren Levato–who curates a private
collection containing thousands of objects of erotic affection,
including several lover’s eyes set in brooches, rings, pill boxes, and
bracelets–will trace the history and phenomenon of Lover’s Eyes, of
which only an estimated 1,000 are known to still exist.

Lauren will also bring some authentic 18th century Lover’s Eyes for your delectation.

Lauren Levato is a visual
artist and writer. She is working on her exhibition for the
International Museum of Surgical Science, opening in December, and has
begun her own collection of lover’s eyes in tattoo form, as a type of
signature of some of today’s best working tattooers.

A Fate Worse Than Death: The Perils of Being a Famous Corpse

Most of us know what our afterlives are going to be like: eternity in
the ground, or resting in an urn on some relative’s mantelpiece. If
we’re lucky, our children might occasionally bring us flowers or a
potted plant, and that’s about as interesting as things are going to
get.

Not so the famous deceased. For millennia, they’ve been bought and
sold, worshipped and reviled, studied, collected, stolen, and dissected.
They’ve been the star attractions at museums and churches, and used to
found cemeteries, cities, even empires. Pieces of them have languished
in libraries and universities, in coolers inside closets, and in
suitcases underneath beds. For them, eternity has been anything but
easy.

The more notable or notorious the body, the more likely it is that
someone’s tried to disturb it. Consider the near-snatching of Abraham
Lincoln, or the attempt on Elvis’s tomb. Then there’s Descartes, who is
missing his head, and Galileo, who is spending eternity without his
middle finger. Napoleon’s missing something a bit lower, as is the
Russian mystic Rasputin, at least if the rumors are true. Meanwhile,
Jesse James has had three graves, and may not have been in any of them,
while it took a court case and an exhumation to prove that Lee Harvey
Oswald was in his.

In this illustrated lecture, Bess Lovejoy will draw on her new book, Rest in Pieces,
to discuss the many threats faced by famous corpses–from furta sacra
(“holy theft” of saintly relics), to skull-stealing phrenologists,
“Resurrection Men” digging up cadavers for medical schools, modern organ
harvesters, the depredations of crazed fans, and much more.

Rest in Pieces will also be available for sale, and wine will be served in celebration of its release.

Bess Lovejoy is a writer,
researcher, and editor based in Seattle. She writes about dead people,
forgotten history, and sometimes art, literature, and science. Her
writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Believer, The Boston Globe, The Stranger, and other publications. She worked on the Schott’s Almanac series for five years. Visit her at BessLovejoy.com.

Water is one of the most abundant elements we have, and working with
it can yield some of the most potent spells in one’s magickal practice.
Seas surround us, rain washes over us, and each of us has as a private
river within our bodies in the form of blood. Beguilingly simple, yet
infinitely deep, water is connected to the tides, the moon, and the well
of the unconscious. The alchemical principles of solve and solutio teach us that water helps us let go of all we no longer need, while also reminding us to, quite literally, go with the flow.

In this ritual workshop, we’ll explore several aspects of water
magick, including healing baths, herbal infusions, and purification
rituals. You’ll learn to create your own magickal bath, as well a few
other water spells to help you manifest what you desire and wash away
all that’s no longer serving you. We’ll also discuss myths and deities
who are associated with this element, and whom you can call upon when in
need of guidance or grace.

Please bring:

-A bowl for mixing. A standard soup-sized bowl, or slightly larger, is fine.

-Any altar objects you like. These can be decorative and/or personal objects which you’d like to have charged.

-A cushion, pillow, or fabric, as we will be sitting on the floor (chairs will be available for those who need).

Note-taking is welcome. This workshop is open to men and women, novices and advanced practitioners alike.

Pam Grossman is an
independent curator and lifelong student of magickal practice and
history. An initiate in the wise woman tradition, she is a graduate of
Robin Rose Bennett’s 3-year green witch apprenticeship. She is the
creator of Phantasmaphile, a blog which specializes in art and culture with an esoteric or fantastical bent, and Associate Editor of Abraxas Journal.
Her group art shows, Fata Morgana: The New Female Fantasists, VISION
QUEST, Alchemically Yours, and Sigils & Signs have been featured by
such outlets as Art & Antiques Magazine, Boing Boing, CREATIVE TIME,
Time Out New York, Reality Sandwich, Juxtapoz, Arthur, 20×200,
UrbanOutfitters.com, and Neil Gaiman’s Twitter. She is a co-founder of
Observatory, where her programming aims to explore mysticism via a
scholarly yet accessible approach.

March 11, 2013

I just got back from a week in London and a week in Turkey. Highlights of the London leg include communing with the Treadwell's crew, getting to hold the breathtaking new issue of Abraxas in my hands, stopping into the British Museum, and swooning over the Signs, Symbols, Secrets show at the Science Museum, where I got weak in the knees in front of an actual Ripley Scroll and other priceless alchemical manuscripts:

Signs, Symbols, Secrets: an illustrated guide to alchemy

The quest for the philosophers’ stone was a major preoccupation
of the early modern world. This precious substance was said to
transform base metals into silver and gold, heal sickness, and unlock
the mysteries of God and nature. Its recipe was a closely guarded secret
and a bewildering array of signs and symbols were used, both
figuratively and allegorically, to convey key processes and ideas in the
search for the fabled stone. This exhibition follows the theme of a
recipe using the same sources devised and decoded by the alchemists
themselves.

The exhibition displays 22 of the most striking images from the rich
collection of the Science Museum’s Library & Archives. Dating from
the 16th to the 18th centuries, these works reveal the power and
intricacy of alchemical art, whilst allowing us to attempt an
interpretation of the hidden meanings behind the symbols.

At the heart of the exhibition is a newly discovered manuscript: a
Ripley scroll. These rare scrolls include some of the most complex and
fascinating alchemical imagery in existence. For the first time, this
object can be viewed alongside selected texts and images from the
Museum’s collections.Its rich symbolism offers clues – both practical
and theoretical – for the creation of the philosophers’ stone.

Only 23 Ripley scrolls are known to exist. This one dates from the
18th century and is the most recently discovered. Scholars believe that
all the surviving examples are copies and variations upon a lost
15th-century original. They are named after the famous English alchemist
George Ripley, although there is no evidence that Ripley designed the
scrolls himself.
The scrolls range in size, but are all too long to be viewed and
understood in a single glance. Scholars are still investigating how they
are meant to be read and used. It is possible that the original scroll
was created for a wealthy patron interested in alchemy. Over time, the
scrolls have become prized for the quality of their imagery.

Turkey was an adventure to be sure. We spent most of the week in Istanbul, which was at times trying (weather, much of the food, pushy tourist-hungry shop owners), at times delightful (Museum of Innocence, fresh fish sandwiches on the Bosphorus, the Spice Market, Turkish bath at Cagaloglu Hammami [well, delightful for me. My husband has a very different story!], Topkapi Palace), and at times absolutely transcendent (Hagia Sophia, Blue Mosque, whirling dervishes). My favorite spot in the city was easily the Basilica Cistern, an ancient underground waterkeep, filled with columns and carp and darkness and mysterious Medusa heads:

And I must thank Laura Battle for insisting we go there! I'm not sure we would have made it otherwise, and it was utterly otherworldly. If it were in my own city, I would visit it all the time.

We also took a day-trip to Selcuk in the countryside, to see Ephesus and its environs, and it was glorious glorious glorious. We visited Mary's alleged final home, the ruins of the ancient city of Ephesus, and I got to make a lifetime-in-the-making pilgrimage to the site of the Temple of Artemis:

Words can't describe how it felt to be there and get to make a small offering of flowers and thanks to a goddess I've loved my whole life. And though the only remains of the temple are one reconstructed column and a few other bits of marble, the charge there was tremendously holy. I was especially moved by how wild of a place it's become - marshland full of geese and sweet, free-roaming dogs, and a stork's nest on top of the column. So perfect for Artemis Ephesus. And I couldn't believe how both this site and the city of Ephesus were virtually unguarded and thoroughly accessible to visitors. You could walk up and touch all of the ruins, explore archways and building facades, and clamber over broken columns, - there were even people sitting on them like benches! - and the city was full of feral but gentle cats:

I wish we had more time in Selcuk, but I'm so grateful for the day we did have there. Unforgettable. Many more Turkey photos here, if you're curious. Haven't gotten around to captioning them, but you'll get the flavor at least.

After two weeks of travel, I'm a bit behind on posts, emails, life in general. Thank you for your patience with me while I catch up. And more updates forthcoming!

February 25, 2013

I'm in London for a few days, then off to Istanbul, so blogging may be a bit sporadic over the next two weeks.

For those also in London, make sure you stop by Treadwell's on Wednesday at 7pm to celebrate the hot-off-the-presses arrival of Abraxas issue 3. Should be a warm and wooly gathering.

I got to spend a bit of time at the British Museum yesterday, communing with Dr. Dee's spirit tools in the incredible wunderkammer-style Enlightement room, and then being dazzled by the Living and Dying exhibition in the Wellcome Trust Gallery. Glorious.

Adventures in Limbo: The Neither-Neither World of Austin Osman Spare (and Abraxas 3 US Launch!)

Austin Osman Spare was an English occult artist working in the
early-to-mid 20th Century. An exceptional illustrator and painter, he
also developed his own mystical practice involving sigils and other
esoteric codification. In this 60min audio-visual journey, we are
invited to explore Austin Spare’s approach to creating magical art. His
liminal methods are then compared with classical composers working
during his lifetime. There is also a soundtrack by John Contreras (of
Current 93 and Baby Dee) that was composed uniquely for this
presentation.

Robert Ansell is the managing director of the highly-regarded publishers FULGUR.
For more than 20 years he has collaborated with writers and artists,
both established and new, to produce some of the most inspirational
magical books of recent times. In 2009 Robert launched Abraxas, a high quality journal of esoteric studies that has been widely lauded.

A specialist in the art and sorcery of Austin Osman Spare, his published work includes; AOS Ex-Libris (1988), The Book of Ugly Ecstasy (1996), Borough Satyr (2005), The Valley of Fear (2008), The Exhibition Catalogues of Austin O. Spare (2011) and The Focus of Life
(2012). In 2010 he was also interviewed on Austin Spare for the BBC
Culture Show. Though rarely seen as a public lecturer, his two recent
appearances concerning Spare, AOS: A Celebration (2006) and The Cult of One (2007) received critical acclaim.

Abraxas is the publication I'm the Associate Editor of, so it will be a thrill to celebrate the launch of our new issue, as well as to hear the brilliant Robert Ansell speak. Please join us!

February 12, 2013

I'm excited to announce that I'll be teaching a Water Magick Ritual Workshop at Observatory on Friday, March 15th. Full info below. Drop me an email to RSVP, and looking forward to seeing some of you there:

Water is one of the most abundant elements we have, and working with
it can yield some of the most potent spells in one’s magickal practice.
Seas surround us, rain washes over us, and each of us has as a private
river within our bodies in the form of blood. Beguilingly simple, yet
infinitely deep, water is connected to the tides, the moon, and the well
of the unconscious. The alchemical principles of solve and solutio teach us that water helps us let go of all we no longer need, while also reminding us to, quite literally, go with the flow.

In this ritual workshop, we’ll explore several aspects of water
magick, including healing baths, herbal infusions, and purification
rituals. You’ll learn to create your own magickal bath, as well a few
other water spells to help you manifest what you desire and wash away
all that’s no longer serving you. We’ll also discuss myths and deities
who are associated with this element, and whom you can call upon when in
need of guidance or grace.

Please bring:

-A bowl for mixing. A standard soup-sized bowl, or slightly larger, is fine.

-Any altar objects you like. These can be decorative and/or personal objects which you’d like to have charged.

-A cushion, pillow, or fabric, as we will be sitting on the floor (chairs will be available for those who need).

Note-taking is welcome. This workshop is open to men and women, novices and advanced practitioners alike.

Pam Grossman is an
independent curator and lifelong student of magickal practice and
history. An initiate in the wise woman tradition, she is a graduate of
Robin Rose Bennett’s 3-year green witch apprenticeship. She is the
creator of Phantasmaphile, a blog which specializes in art and culture with an esoteric or fantastical bent, and Associate Editor of Abraxas Journal.
Her group art shows, Fata Morgana: The New Female Fantasists, VISION
QUEST, Alchemically Yours, and Sigils & Signs have been featured by
such outlets as Art & Antiques Magazine, Boing Boing, CREATIVE TIME,
Time Out New York, Reality Sandwich, Juxtapoz, Arthur, 20×200,
UrbanOutfitters.com, and Neil Gaiman’s Twitter. She is a co-founder of
Observatory, where her programming aims to explore mysticism via a
scholarly yet accessible approach.

Please come support us at our RESURRECTION-themed annual fundraiser costume party and group art show opening!
Date: Saturday, February 2nd
Time: 8pm
Admission: $20

Observatory has had quite a year, full of fires, floods, threats
of floods, and much more besides. On Saturday, February 2nd, we
cordially invite you to join us in celebrating our against-the-odds
survival in the face of it all with our 4th anniversary
back-from-the-dead-themed fundraiser. This party will also serve as the
inauguration for our “Resurrection” group show, which will open to the public this evening.

Tonight will be the first full moon of the new year. Called “Wolf
Moon” or “Ice Moon,” it’s associated with the dead of winter, when
wolves howl hungrily in the dark. But in a few days, it will also be
Imbolc – or Brigid’s Day – a festival of fire magick that traditionally
corresponds to the birth of lambs and other new life.

In this ritual workshop, we’ll explore these polarities, keep the
cold at bay, and use the power of the full moon to light our way into
the year ahead. You’ll learn to carve your own magick candle, as well a
few other fire spells to help you blaze your intentions into being.
We’ll also discuss herbs and spices that can help burn away the winter
blues, and invite warmth and vitality into our bodies and lives.

Please bring:

-A candle to carve. As Judika Illes says, “The size is up to you,
but the larger and more substantial the candle, the more surface space
is available for carving symbols into it. Birthday candles and tea
lights are too small and tapers tend to break. Pillar and round votive
candles are best.”

-Any altar objects you like. These can be decorative and/or personal objects which you’d like to have charged.

-A cushion, pillow, or fabric, as we will be sitting on the floor (chairs will be available for those who need).

Note-taking is welcome. This workshop is open to men and women, novices and advanced practitioners alike.

Pam Grossman is an
independent curator and lifelong student of magickal practice and
history. An initiate in the wise woman tradition, she is a graduate of
Robin Rose Bennett’s 3-year green witch apprenticeship. She is the
creator of Phantasmaphile, a blog which specializes in art and culture with an esoteric or fantastical bent, and Associate Editor of Abraxas Journal.
Her group art shows, Fata Morgana: The New Female Fantasists, VISION
QUEST, Alchemically Yours, and Sigils & Signs have been featured by
such outlets as Art & Antiques Magazine, Boing Boing, CREATIVE TIME,
Time Out New York, Reality Sandwich, Juxtapoz, Arthur, 20×200,
UrbanOutfitters.com, and Neil Gaiman’s Twitter. She is a co-founder of
Observatory, where her programming aims to explore mysticism via a
scholarly yet accessible approach.

January 18, 2013

If I could be anywhere in the world tomorrow night, it would be at Jesse Bransford's opening for his incredible ceremonial magic installation, "The Fourth Pyramid," at the Gavelston Artist Residency. His room of painted occult mandalas, talismans, and planetary altar pieces must be a powerful place for meditation of the wide-eyed variety. Can we vote to make this permanent? If so, consider my ballot cast. More info here:

Galveston Artist Residency presents: The Fourth Pyramid.

Opening January 19th 2013, 6-9PM.

This is our magic spell.

We drive past the three pyramids every time we enter or leave the
island. We know what they contain. What is missing? What is the fourth
Pyramid?

It has become a metaphor for our desire to bring into existence
something that wasn’t here before – something better. It is our desire
to make Galveston the most beautiful place in the world, if only for one
shimmering moment. When you begin to tread down this transformative
path, you are in the realm of magic.

This is our magic spell.

For our first exhibition of 2013, marking our one-year anniversary on
this island, GAR has teamed up with artist Jesse Bransford to bring
about the existence of THE FOURTH PYRAMID. If ever there were an artist
who could make transformative magic a reality it would be Bransford.
Building off of nearly ten years of research, Bransford’s drawings and
numerical symbols transform the GAR gallery into a space charged with
possibility, a three dimensional spell, an incantation you can move
through. The artist invokes many magical traditions to create his work,
but especially focuses on the European Renaissance magical tradition.
The symbols feel at once familiar and incredibly alien. Like a language
forgotten, or a past life only glimpsed through dreams. They are
universal and yet illegible. Phenomenal and noumenal.

This is our magic spell.

Under the influence of these symbols, using the forgotten language,
we extend the magic into Galveston itself. The wind whispers to the
wasted land, the images flash: sunrise, sunset, sulphur pit, the foaming
tide, a hand traces patterns on sun drenched sheets, the mouth opens to
speak.

THE FOURTH PYRAMID appears.

Jesse Bransford is a Brooklyn-based artist whose work is exhibited
internationally. He holds degrees from the New School for Social
Research (BA), Parsons School of Design (BFA) and Columbia University
(MFA). An associate professor at New York University, Bransford’s work
has been involved with belief and the visual systems it creates since
the 1990s. Research into color meaning and cultural syncretism led to
the occult traditions in general and the work of John Dee and Henry
Cornelius Agrippa specifically. His work is represented by Feature Inc.
in New York and can be seen extensively documented on the website
www.sevenseven.com, a site he has operated and maintained since 1997.